Hey Everyone, welcome back to Stash Blasting Wednesday.

I belong to the Orillia Quilters Guild in Orillia, Ontario. Our guild has a great Outreach program providing quilts to the hospital, Hospice Orillia, Children’s Aid and a few more. We are also in the process of making stockings and placemats for Christmas.

The stockings will go to Jubilee House and the placemats will brighten the tables of one of the Senior’s homes in town. Last year we made over a 100 for Trillium Manor and this year I think the number to make is somewhere in the 90’s.

I set to work the other day to make a few as I couldn’t make it to the workshop. A great way to use up some of those Christmas fabrics sitting in my stash.

The placemats are 12″ x 15″ finished. No binding makes for a quick project as well.

The first one I did was 5 strips 3 ½″ x 12 ½″ sewn together to make a placemat.

The second one I made a large rectangle with a border on two sides.

The third one was 4 rectangles in two different fabrics. Each rectangle measured 8″ x 6 ½″.

Finally the fourth one was a variation of number 3.

I created a bit different backing for them as I am not a fan of sewing up the hole in the flip and sew or no binding method for finishing. I never find the closed area looks neat enough for me. Tune into Technique Tuesday next week to see how I created this new method that has no binding.

Once the backing is on they are ready to be quilted.

This is a great way to use up those Christmas fabrics or even other seasonal fabrics for other holidays such as Easter or Halloween. The great thing is you don’t even need a pattern just cut up some pieces and sew them together and see what you get.

Happy Quilting!